Voyage long forgotten
by David Kartas
Summary: Set in One Piece for a whileA small brake of boredom.Plese write a review,if you feel like it any feedback welcome


**Voyage long forgotten**

Dicslaimer:I own neither One Piece,nor the rights of the Works of Lord Dunsany

The ship,witch was known upon the seas as "Flying Lamb",had been calm for several weeks.The crew,witch were and are adressed as "straw hat pirates",had nothing to do and boredom was general.

Luffy was "practising"(shooting his arms into the wide and open spaces) until he fell over board.No one complained about having to fish him out,it was something to do.Robin was going through some books and Zolo was studiyng the iner side of his eyelids.Ussop and Choper ocasionaly jumped out of a corner and done something,and I am not afraid to use the word,stupid,but again,no one complained,for the lack of better (or any other) entertainment.Sanji was eying the female part of the crew and ocasionaly acting like a fool.Nami was studying maps of near islands (if a week and a half of journey may be called "near") and,naturaly,thinking of profit(if she would not,it would definitly a sign,that the world is coming to an end).Nothing hapened for a looooooong time.Even a litle skirmish with Smoker,as lethal it at many times was,would be refreshing about now.

It was one of many days,that simply did not wish to end.All were more or less hybernating(they did not sleep,but they simply did not do a thing),when Ussop pointed to the sky and said:

"Hey.Theres something ahead.".

No one noticed him at first(we all know how he is,so it must not suprise us, that his credibility was,eh,doubtable),but Luffy(who was always naive) decided to take a look anyway.He looked up and testified.

"There really _is _something ahead.A storm." but this idea soon faded.For Luffy could not have been depicted an Academic Professor,but imagination he had and so he could tell,that _that _was no storm.After his testification,the rest of the crew got up to look.

It was not of this world.A swirling mass,like a tornado,witch has clenged a galaxy,green in color and only faintly resembling a storm.Nevertheless a small wind arose and before anyone could notice,their ship was...flying to the "storm".It was not hurled by wind,nor water,as it was with the journey to Skipiya,but it was drawn like a piece of iron upon the surface of a magnet.It soon came closest to the "event".The crew could now fully realise,what fools they have been,calling this a storm.Around them,through the air drifted things,that could not have ever lived,and yet folowing them was an in-humane cry,witch resounded within their body's like the laughter of God upon the forests of the World.On the deck,something landed.

The crew came nearer.It was a man.But not fully.His skin had been flayed and his eyes were no more.What laid there,was the child of a nigthmare,that has forced an Emperor to suicide.And the horror rose,as the remains of the man spoke:

"Choose of many ways,but nigh is none.Choose of many roads,but they are gone.Only one is true,yet you?

Un-worthy is that,what you are.Relent and have thy lives ended,when thy souls may still reach Paradise,for beyond theese gates,God cannot see.".

The crew stood in shock and it was Luffy,who said:

"We-are-not-afraid!".

"Foolish child." said the corpse and as it said this a small wind arose and caried the remains into the air and far away.And many other things have swirled and above them a terible conversation could be heard.Finaly,all the things said together:

"Let it be.".

And the mass began to open an "eye" and the ship had been sucked within.

What they saw,when their ship had passed,is for none to know.

Worlds seen in one frame,that showed all.Worlds of pleasure and worlds of pain,each of such un-imaginable dimension,that human fear could not concieve it.Or could the Primal fear of the only animal member of the crew.

And then the ship stoped in the midle of this,just as many panels on the left as on right,before as back,above as bellow.And all from nowhere a form apeared.It was not as the forms by the "gate",but a fine clothed(although they were ancient,that a man could see imediatly) person(within the form of a man)with the skin color of a newly decayed body.He had a piece of pergamen sewed to each side of his clothes,witch were but one long cloth that covered the whole body(although none of the crew was sure,it the person really _had _a body).He looked not on them,but on all the other sides.

Then he asked in a tone of the beings before the entrance:

"Xhasd-vnnnnnnnnh-łĐ-đ hwhsrh ö yihmzd)uü?".

Nothing.No response.The person,visibyl disturbed by this failiute,halted for a second and then said:

"XccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccXcccccccXdcdcdcccccccc

Xxx Xccccccccd Xccccd Xccd?".

Still nothing.The person,now very angry,took a deep breath and said:

"Wh'chryouu Frchrrrromh?".

It was Robin,who recognised the question as a missaid sentence in their language and answered:

"Diferent places.".

"Hwwww dfrrnt?" asked the person,now pleased,that he made contact.

"Well",said Robin,as she pondered and then continued,"wery far from each other.".

"Aer dhey unnnnnnn dr smm wuhhhrllld?" asked the person again.

"Yes." replied Robin.

"Whrrrrtss s Nmmm?" aksed the person Again.

This was a hard nut to crack.After a few minutes of silence,Robin reasured herself:

"Did you say "Whats its name"?".

"Juhssssch.Wuhh Ih-'s t?" said the person,

"Earth." said Robin.

The Person looked amused.He hovered over the crew and inspetced their clothes and ship.Then he said:

"Frrrrm Geeelll-d Rrrrr-eeedjeeeerrrr?" asked he then.(Although it is my random guess,puting it as a "he").

It was Luffy who got it the fastest.

"From Gold Roger.Sure.But..." pausing for a while,"he's dead.".

The face of the person broke in itself with disapointment.

"Huuuhhhhwuh...llllloooon?".

"Twenty years." replied Luffy.

That he did not have to say.

The person broke into a fit,moving his head upwards and started to scream:

"Blllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhd-eeeeh-chchchchchyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!" it was a British swear,but how could the crew of Straw hat pirates from the world of the grand line know?

Then the person(without changing his pose from the stale form of shock and hatred) began to hurl fragments of awkward things,witch none of the crew recognised in the speed,but non had any ilusion,that they would,if the objects laid still.And it was Nami,who could have sworn,that one of the flying objects moved,while in the air.

And then...it stoped.And the person sat down in mid air and looked somewhere,witch was nowhere.After a few seconds he turned his head towards the ship and said:

"Yuuuuuuuuhhhhh cnnnh goh,e dn wuhnh teh hehth yeh.Wehh duh yah wahn e goh?".

Robin said:

"Home.".

The person stood up and pointed his head to,where the heavens might have been and cried:

"Saaaaaaaahah!Saaaaaaaahah!Chthchućhćhćhćhćh!Meeehuw!".

Upon the end of this brisk incantation (for what else it could have been?) a hole opened in mid air and the ship was draged inside.It was dark.And a long time.But for a litlle while,because soon time ceased to mean anything and it soon ceased completely.It was only nothing.

The crew awoke,all at once,upon the deck of their ship.Neither could remember falling asleep,nor being tired.It was Luffy who made the discovery:

"Wow.". he said.

The rest of the crew got up to see.

The ship sat on the ground,witch was dry and dark green.There was a storm witch permanently covered the sky,of the same color.And green was evrything else.A small fog began to rise.

"Where the hell are we?" replied Nami.

The crew got out of the ship and began to look around.There was nothing here in general,but long fields of ground,on witch nothing grew.And when they all stood looking around,no one noticed,that from faraway a man in a green cloack and walking with the aid of a stick of green wood.No one saw him,until he regulary stood on their heads.

"Why a visit?How nice.Eh...helo?" he said and from his green cloack a small part lifted itself and it could be recognised,as a long,green beard.

No one replied for a while.

"Im he-ere!" said the newcomer.

Nothing,no one could place him.Now he got angry and blated Luffy on the head with his stick.

"Here!".

Then they finaly got to notice him.

"Oh,hello." said Robin."Would you be so kind,to tell us where we are?".

"Where?" said the newcomer and his eyes began to shine.

"_Whe_re?Heh.Heh.Heheheheh.**Where**!Hahahahahahahahah!".He then fell on the ground,laughting his tonsils out.It took a minute or two,for him to calm down a bit.He raised his head,stil smirking and tears runing down from his eyes and said:

"Heh...help me up.".

Robin aided him in her usual way(without leaving her position) and asked him:

"Why is it so funny?".

"Why?" said the newcomer and evryone began to fear he'd get another fit,

but he calmly replied,"You,are not _where_,but _when_.".

No one seemed to understand,so he asked:

"Does any of you have,eh...a _Twahundh_?".He was visibly searching his mind through like some people the daily edition of "The Sun".

No one seemed to chatch,but for Robin,who,after a few minutes said:

"That's an old word.It means something like "the bearer of time" .It could be meant as the modern clock.".

" "The bearer of hours that have seen the eyes of Destiny"." said the newcomer.

"A clock." said Robin and began to took around,finaly puling out a small wrist clock.But what caught the eye was,that the clock had stoped.She looked inside and nothing seemed the matter.

"The...clock...is in perfect working order.This place," said the newcomer and pointed around,"is beyond all time.Here,neither past nor future pass,here is no present,here is no today and no tommorow.It is Home.".And when he said this,the crew understood,that the weirdly talking person had misunderstood.

"How can we get out?" said Robin.

"Out?Youd on't get it,don't you?You _are _out.Out of the future and out of the past.".He threw his stick into the air...and it froze there,it did neither move,nor fall.Then he picked a small leaf from the ground and with him a rock, bot of deadly green.He put one in each hand and began to explain.

"Youre world,whitchever it is,is like this leaf.It is soft and shapable and it grows old and dies.But the now is like the rock.It is great and un-shapen since a long time ago,when the things were made.And they are both in places as diefferent as theese two things.But you,are now _within _the rock.

And only a Great force can help you through.".He finished.

"And can you help us?" said Robin.

"I?Well,not I,but for a price..." said the newcomer and pulled out a hand of such a twisted and unwell form,that it was of great tragi-comedy.

"What would that be?" asked Nami,who knew many prices indeed.

"But a hair of each.A hair and a plea that you shall never be of the folk of Bardi,you and your world.".The hair was an easy task,but the other.

"A plea...?" asked Robin.

"You would not understand,not in a thousand years,for all the words that might be said,are more then all the grains of all the sands of all the deserts of all the worlds.Let us just say,that you will not have to worry,tis but a formality.You must only say "yes" and all will be over.".

Well,the crew thought it over and they then gave the hairs and said "yes".

"Fine.".Said the newcomer.Then he took out a knife and said:

"May thy corpes be within the hand of Lewa,who was exiled from Hell,if thy plea be broken." and he swalowed the knife.

"Just a formality." said he afterwards,grining teribly.Then he turned and left and before they lost him out of sight,he yelled:

"Move it!".

They went for half an horu without a word.It was Luffy who asked the man, who lead them:

"What's your name?".

"I have none,I never had and I never will.". said the one in charge.

After what seemed like an eternity,until they reached a small house,that was built within a hill and was slowly turning into moss.

The newcomer went and beat his stick on the door.A few second later,a man,unimaginibly old,opened it.His beard was longer,then his own height.

"The night of the never born has not yet come." and he wished to close the door.

"I have visitors." said the unnamed.

"Visitors?" asked the old man and re-opened the door.He then eyed the crew and said,with a voice full of dust:

"Come in.".

The inards of his house were but old wood and some other things as well, here you would get the impression,that an old man may find an even older desire of his,long lost,an old dream long forgotten.

There was a chair herein.It was not made of wood,nor anything else anyone has ever seen before.The ancient man had walked to it slowly,as the visitors began to ocupy his domain he sat and watched them so intensivly,as to discover,if they are not an ilusion of old age.And when he discovers they are not,he can't but smile within,his old heart pumping a moment quicker for an instent,as he realises,that senility has not yet risen to smythe his sanity.

And that is good.For he must suffer,and if he would be insane,it would not be a punishment.He looks on his visitors and then,with a sudden twitch,he says in a voice,in witch echoe a thousand mileniums:

"Why have thy come to brake the pains of this one?The pain that he must endure for the sin that he has commited in the begining?He,who done worse then any?What do thy seak from theese old bones,that have not seen a living face since the stars were born?Wisdom you will not find,for it has left when I have what I have done.Truth you will not find,for truth is a lie.".

"They wan't to get back into time." said the unnamed,panting his beard like a pet,before a championship.

"That...can be aranged." said the ancient man,slowly rising from his chair.

"I cannot leave this door.That is my punishment,solitude eternal.But in times of need,there is another way for me to exit." said he and went then to a completely empty part of the house.He started scratching the walls and continued,until he heard a sound,that was like an elephant,who had just risen from the dead.

"Yes,it is that time again." said he to the wall and it made the impresion,

although it did not move,that it asks,like the face of a mute,when being draged to the execution cell.

"It must be." said he unto the wall.

And then,slowly,a hole began to regulary rip itself within the wall.It was like when the waters parted before Moses.And beyonf a cavern apeared,dark and unwelcoming.The ancient wan went through and screamed behind him:

"It will not last long,so hurry your steps.".

And the crew did as they were told.One by one they passed through the hole and behind them,the green unnamed came as well.

The cavern was longer then their eyes could see and it held forms not unto any that ever was.The soon rising darkness all about was seen as redemption.

"What it is,that youve,uh...done?" asks Robin,now a bit uncertain of the answer.

"I have killed the father of Time." answers the screeching voice of the ancient man from the darkness.

The rest of the journey did take place without conversation.

Finaly a light apeared an eternity away.And it has surly passed,before the walked through the light unto the unknown.

They were standing inside a great bulding a high round tower,flying to the heavens and having neither windows,nor doors.From the wery bottom to the unknown hights was filled with books.Of all sizes and colors,some very old and some very strange.There was one made of glass an another made of flesh and one who seemed as not made at all.

"Here..." said the ancient man,ponting in all directions,"are all the books that ever were,and all the books that ever will be.".

Robin,who was quite fond of reading,looked about.There were some authors she had read an other she had known of and others,who she had heard lost.And there were others,who's name she did not know and some, who's name were written in numbers and some,who's names had not been written at all.And there was one more kind.It were books that were on one side greatly ancient and on the other of materials never known by man.And upon them were written words within tongues and alphabets of far away,in both directions of the Eternal Wheel.

"I will help you return wherever you came from,from witchever spoore of Time you have escaped,but you will have to take one book from all theese."

.Said the ancient man.Then he took a positivly gargantuouse lader and began to climb to the heavens.After a few moments he disapeared completely and it was not until ten minutes later,or so,that he reapered.

He was covering a small,black book.He put it into his coat and said:

"Latter,when you will not be able to relent." said he.

Then he he turned to the green unnamed:

"You know what to do." he said with a bit of irony.

The bearded green walked to the centre of the room and pulled his stick close to his head.The he began to mutter away like a fool strange words that would make sense either to the dead,or the living.Suddenly,his stick was not a stick anymore,but slowly(and surely) was turning to a scythe and upon its ned grew,like a rotted froot of iron a blade,that grew in lenght and it wideness until she was as she should be.Then its holder raised it in the air and smyth.And within the plain,apeared a hole,not unlike the one within the house.It went outside.

The crew new the hint and jumped threw,except for Choper,who had to be held up and helped.

Outside it was just as when they were there before.Only before them stood the tower,made of marble.It descended greatly forwards into the green skies.

But near by were other towers as well,that looked all the same.

"Didn't you say,that in that,place,were "all the books that ever" etcethera?" asked someone,not important who.

"Yes.Every book from every world and every place.But in each of the others are all the books as well,and non is the same,nor within a tower,nor between them." said the ancient man.

"Come,for the long journey impels us." said the green unnamed.

"Dante,I know." said the ancient man,"Inferno is my favourite,especialy the first eight cantoes.". he concluded.

Neither of the crew had ever heard of Dante,nor "Inferno" (in any other,the religious ways).

They went on,until they reached the path of where once a river flowed,but now was dry.The ancient man touched and ate a part of the dirt and then said:

"Yes.Parched.That means it will come soon.We do not have much time.".

He then went aside and began to search for something in the ground.After a while,when members of the crew thought of asisting him,he lead out a heurecan scream.He carefully took something within two fingers and pulled.

And then,a great of the ground opened like a door and as it was standing horizontaly like a wall,it revealed some sort of underground room.

Inside were,by tens of thousands,cramped small grey creatures,who had generaly lacked any specific shape and could have been well held for a bizare mountain group.They spake to each other before in a weird tongue, (that was heard in the split of a second before the door of the ground has reached its height),yet imediatly stoped.And they all looked at the ancient man.

"Exiles." mutered the green unnamed as an explenation to the crew,yet it really didn't help.

The ancient man steped forward and said:

"By the Will of Thuba Mleen,who is my lord and sovereing,I order you,who are unworthy,to rise and do as I shall tell in the name of the former.".

Withou a sign of protest,they began to rise from their respected quarters and one by one the went before him.When he thought it enough,he said:

"Wait.".He turned to the crew and asked:

"By what device have thy come?".

"A ship." answers Robin,who seams to only one,who dares to speak.

"How large?".

"Rather small,not like a gellera." answered Robin.

"Fine,twenty more may go,the rest stays." said the ancient man.

Twenty more maladies left their prison and stood upright before him.

He then gestured in a faraway direction:

"There,is a ship,rather small,but it is not yet in decay.Bring it here,as quick as possible.".

The grey missfortunes left wihtout a sound and quickly,as a shadow before the face of the Sun-Emperor.

A few moments past and soon the Flying Lam was being caried by theese creatures with suprising ease and speed.

"Place it within the grave of the river." commanded the ancient man.

Soon the ship stood,where no water flew.

"Now we must wait." said the ancient man and turned in the direction of a near-by mountain.

And then it hapened.The mountain began to move.And when it turned aside, it was revealed that the mountain was a giant,made of moss and rock and flesh and with a terribly misshapen face.

"That," said the ancient man,in anticipation of a question,"is Huawanee Marrr.The giant of the giloteene of the lamb.He sleeps for all eternity,and dreams of long lost places and weeps for their loss.He sleep and will sleep,until he shall wake,and when he does,he shall slay the worlds and you and us and all with them.".

He then turned to the faces of the crew.

"Aren't you,um,scared living here with him?" asks Nami,who's fears have somehow went away.

"No.You see,unlike men,we know that some things cannot be halted,nor can be stoped and so we enjoy what we have,instead of wasting it in effort of prolonging its lenght.".

Then he said:

"Get aboard.".

And they did.

And afterward,the giant began to sulk.And that turned into weeping and even that was soon away.He began to cry.

The tears rand won his eyes,like conffesions of horrors never done.And as they streamed down his body,the began to bond and soon the turned into a stream and from a stream into a water fall and from that,unto a river.And it began to fill the groto and soon the river was once more.

And just before the river reached the ship,the ancient man put a hand in his coat and threw the small black book to Robin and then,just before the rage of the waters become un-bearable,he cries:

"That last book,that will ever be!".

The waters pull the ship into farther ways and soon it and all aboard begin to fade and be but shadows.

And then they are gone.

They awoke upon a hot day,all unconscious,unknowing what had hapened.

None remembered what they say or heard,but Robin,as she was just on the way to her respected places,found out,that she was holding a small black book,entiteled:

"Mother love.".It made her smile,although she did not know why.


End file.
